Friday, January 4, 2019

REPORT: US Involvement in Syria Might Increase

By Robert Wenzel

This is just remarkable.

Turkey is asking the U.S. to provide substantial military support, including air strikes, transport and logistics, so that Turkish forces can assume the main responsibility for fighting the Islamic State extremist group in Syria, senior U.S. officials tell The Wall Street Journal.

According to the Journal, the Turkish requests are so extensive that, if fully met, the American military might be deepening its involvement in Syria instead of reducing it before leaving, the officials added.

Discussions on how the Turks might take over the Syria mission will take place in talks in the Turkish capital Ankara on Tuesday involving White House National Security Adviser John Bolton; Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs; and James Jeffrey, the State Department envoy for Syria.

And get this: According to the Journal:
The plan for U.S. troops in Syria to be replaced by Turkish forces, which remains on track, was codified in a classified memo Mr. Bolton recently sent to cabinet-level officials, U.S. officials said.

Mr. Bolton also wrote in the memo that the administration’s prior policy objectives in Syria were not being changed. Those goals have included defeating Islamic State, evicting Iranian-commanded forces and pursuing a diplomatic end to the civil war...

Despite President Trump’s assertion on Dec. 19 that the U.S.-led coalition had defeated Islamic State, strikes against the terror group have since increased. From Dec. 16-29, there were 469 coalition strikes against the group in Syria, according to the coalition. Among the targets were command and control nodes, explosive facilities, weapons caches and one “unarmed aircraft system,” the U.S. military said in a statement. Between Dec. 9-15, the coalition said it conducted 208 strikes in Syria.
It looks like Libertarians for Trump are going to get suckered again.

The U.S. is not leaving the fight in Syria. It appears the U.S, will continue to fund the conflict, using Turkish fighters on the frontlines, though U.S. military officials apparently question the capability of the Turks to handle the assignment.

Most noteworthy from the Journal article:
Mr. Jeffrey, the State Department envoy, is seeking to work out an arrangement with the Turks that would allow them to go into northern Syria while avoiding largely Kurdish areas, according to U.S. officials familiar with the plans. Mr. Jeffrey has also asked Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the Kurdish commander of Syrian fighters with whom the U.S. has been working, to hold off on making any deals with President Bashar al-Assad’s government while the Trump administration tries to develop its strategy.
This perhaps explains the warhawk Senator Lindsey Graham's cryptic comment after recently having lunch with Trump when he said he felt better with what was going on concerning the pullout of U.S. troops from Syria and that there was more to the story. I guess there is.

This isn't an end to U.S. meddling in Syria, it is a change in style rather than purpose. And with the bloodthirsty neocon Bolton heading up the negotiations with Turkey, Trump's pullout announcement appears to be a scam. U.S. involvement in Syria is intensifying.

This isn't a pullout in the sense that you depart the scene and leave the matter to those in the region. It is a Trump-style street hustling con where the battle with serious U.S, involvement will continue.

The Military-Industrial-Complex will be partying this weekend.

Robert Wenzel is Editor & Publisher of

1 comment:

  1. Did anyone really think the Idiocrat in Chief was NOT lying through his teeth as he always does?

    ReplyDelete